During the March 1995 UNESCO conference in Spain, LTER Chair James Gosz met with individuals from the Czech and Slovak republics. With Jim Edwards, Assistant Director, NSF Biology Directorate, he developed plans for a scientific visit to Prague and three potential ILTER research areas. As a result, a team of seven U.S. scientists traveled to Prague in June 1995, with funding from NSF International Programs through the LTER Network Office, to interact with scientists from Poland and the Czech and Slovak republics at Krkonose/Karkonosze Bilateral Reserve, and at Krivoklat and Trebon Basin reserves.
The U.S. team, primarily from LTER sites with comparable habitats, represented the disciplines of botany and plant ecology, animal ecology, biogeochemistry, and information management. A reciprocal visit to NSF and a set of LTER sites (North Temperate Lakes, Hubbard Brook, Coweeta, Niwot, Sevilleta) in September is expected to lead to the development of collaborative research projects and scientific exchange on the model of the ongoing and successful interactions with Hungary.
Dr. Gosz also met with the head of the Faculty of Biology, University of Bucharest, to discuss the possibility of developing an exchange between Rumania and the U.S. LTER Program. A meeting in Rumania is tentatively planned for December 1995 to introduce the ILTER model to Rumanian scientists and administrators.